rangefinderforum user leicashot recently visitied the sulfur mines at Kawah Ijen, a volcano in east Java, featuring the world’s largest lake of sulfuric acid. Around the lake, between clouds of sulfur dioxide gas, some 400 workers collect rocks of pure sulfur, which they then carry over four kilometers down to the processing plant at the foot of the mountain – for a handfull of dollars a day.
leicashot’s report features some stunning pictures of the mountain, the workers, the processing plant and its surroundings, as well as a report on his first-hand experience being caught in a cloud of sulfur dioxide gas for ten minutes – from the impact of which he claims he is still suffering. The pictures were taken using a Leica M9, a pre-aspheric Elmarit-M 28/2.8 and a Voigtländer Nokton 35/1.2. You can find his post here @ rangefinderforum.
With Sony having just introduced their new α33 and α55 DSLRs featuring translucent mirrors, EVFs and HD video with phase-detection AF, one naturally wonders what is next to come. As I stated in my previous post about the two new Sony DSLRs, these seem to be the first in a yet-to-come line of new hybrid DSLRs, featuring the best of both worlds of traditional (D)SLR systems as well as mirrorless system cameras (so-called ‘EVILs’ or ‘CSCs’).
On the other side, rumour has it that Olympus is developing a new modular camera concept that could accomodate for both classical Four Thirds lenses using a mount module with mirror, as well as for the new Micro Four Thirds lenses using a mount module without mirror. This would also mean introducing different viewfinder modules – one optical, one electronical, and one could also imagine Olympus offering different backs with differently spec’ed sensors and displays.
Both systems aren’t entirely new or entirely radical, though, as they both build not only on earlier concepts (the pellicle mirror SLR is really a very old idea, and modular cameras are the standard in medium format photography), they are also both based on existing lens mounts. In both cases, this is actually a good thing, as upgraders need not buy into a completely new system, meaning they’d have to give up their existing lens collection.
But if you think the logical next step, it would mean to introduce a completely, and truly radically new system, totally giving up on existing solutions. Because ultimately, what Sony have just shown us is only the first step. The consequence would be to install the translucent mirror at a much steeper angle, thus reducing the flange back distance to a level on par with current mirrorless solutions. This way, the system could benefit of the smaller and lighter lenses that mirrorless systems offer, but still have phase-detection AF.
Another possibility would be to introduce Fujifilm’s recently developed on-sensor phase-detection system to larger sensors – provided it would work as well as a traditional PDAF system and not compromise image quality. In a further step, such a camera systems could then be modularized, offering not only great versatility through interchangeable modules, but also the possibility to upgrade only specific modules when technology makes the next leap forward.
I’m sure all of this – if not already in development – is already in the heads of the geniuses in the major camera makers’ development departments – if not even more. As always, I’m curious to see what the future brings!
Today, Steve Huff from stevehuffphoto.com did me the honour of publishing a little essay I wrote, entitled “How I became a rangefinder aficionado”. It’s about, well, how I became a rangefinder aficionado  Those of you who frequently visit my site might already know how I came to use rangefinder cameras, as I’ve been writing on that topic in earlier posts. But if you’re interested in reading a more extensive essay about what I think and how I feel about rangefinder cameras, feel free to visit my article at stevehuffphoto.com.
Thanks again to Steve for publishing my article on his website!
Recently, an interesting dichotomy of articles has been published – one at The Phoblographer, the other at The Online Photographer. Both articles are about the importance of what equipment you choose, only the former advertises the old credo that the lens is the most important part, while the latter takes a deeper look at things and comes to the conclusion that no, it’s not (only) the lens which is important – and most certainly it’s not only the lens that makes for the look of a picture.
Since about forever, so-called “professionals” and other self-acclaimed “experts” would have you believe that the lens is what makes the picture (apart from the photographer, that is), and that it doesn’t matter what camera body you’re using as long as you’ve got the right lens for the job. Of course, the lens is a critical factor in achieving good pictures, and so Will Greenwald has a point (and also a cause) trying to educate amateurs about the details and technicalities behind optics, to help them achieve better results. But the lens isn’t all there is to taking technically good pictures, as Ctein explains. There are many more factors to be considered, and a good camera body is one of them.
Of course, in the end it all comes down to whether the photographer has a good eye and knows how to correctly use his equipment. But a good lens and a good camera body sure do help a lot in achieving a good look in your pictures.
Will Greenwald at The Phoblographer: “Why Your Lenses are More Important Than Your Camera”
Ctein at The Online Photographer: “The Lens is Not More Important Than the Camera”
Japan based hobby photographer Gakuranman (Tremor16 on dpreview forums) has recently published an article on exploring the deserted “Gunkanjima” island (official name: Hashima (端島)), an ancient mining settlement off the coast of Nagasaki prefecture, which has been abandoned several decades ago. During two short trips to the island, he used the Panasonic GF1 + 7-14mm lens to take several stunning pictures on the out- and inside of the heavily dilapidated infrastructure, once housing several thousand workers and their families.
You can find his article on his website.
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September 2nd, 2010, 1:39 pm | 
